Review: Take Me Apart

Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a thrilling story told with a dual timeline from the POV of Kate, an archivist hired for the summer and her subject, Miranda, a successful artist who suffered a mysterious death. Miranda's son Theo hired Kate to work in his home going through his parents' things and getting it ready for auction. Through her work, Kate becomes engrossed in the reasons behind Miranda's death and uses the clues that she finds in the home, including Miranda's own words. This sets up a mystery that was never fully elucidated at the time of her death. It is rich in the family dynamics, mental health issues, physical and mental abuse, what we might do for the ones we love and ourselves, and relationships.
This is an intriguing thriller that checks a lot of boxes.
Highly recommended read.
Thank you for the early copy.
#Netgalley #TakeMeApart #FarrarStrausandGiroux

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Review: Inside the Sun

Inside the Sun by Alexis Marie Chute
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Paris Mysteries

The Paris Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love the atmospheric feel that an Edgar Allen Poe story brings to any mystery. This is an intriguing collection of three of Poe’s finest. I love this edition. I first read Poe in elementary school and have loved his writing ever since. This is a wonderful way to reread some of his best.
Highly recommended.
#Netgalley #TheParisMysteriesDeluxeEdition #PushkinPress #PushkinVertigo

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Review: Ruthless Gods

Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed Emily A. Duncan’s first book in this trilogy, Wicked Saints but this second book is definitely superior. I love the gothic, dark writing. The characters are more developed in this second book as well. If you like a dark, YA series, keep these in mind.
Now I have to wait, impatiently, for book three!
#Netgalley #RuthlessGods #StMartinsPress #WednesdayBooks

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Review: Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person

Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person by Anna Mehler Paperny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was very interested in reading this because it is a personal account of dealing with a mental health illness and navigating the psychiatric services. I work in this field on the clinical side so it is always interesting to see how someone utilizing services feels. This was an honest and insightful account of what it is like to live with mental illness and to have your life disrupted by the treatments. It’s an intimidating system that often puts patients privacy low on the agenda due to possible safety concerns.
I completely appreciated this account and highly recommend it for those who are dealing with an illness, as well as family and caregivers who want greater insight into the system of care.
Thank you for the early copy.
#Netgalley #HelloIWantToDiePleaseFixIt #The Experiment

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Review: The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Erik Larson knocks another one out of the park. I’m not sure there are many writers that do historical works as brilliantly and make them pleasantly readable as Larson. This is yet another work that lives up to the hype. This is an intriguing and informative book about Winston Churchill during the time when he was forced into being a wartime leader. This book gives a perspective of who Churchill was and why he was the type of leader that he was.
Brilliant book!
Thank you for the early copy.
#Netgalley #TheSplendidandTheVile #CrownPublishing

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Review: She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be

She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be by J.D. Barker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had no idea how massive of a tale this was when I first picked it up. Wow! Not only is it a tome of a book but it a saga of a story. It is centered around Dickens’s Great Expectations and the two main characters are Jack/Pip and Stella. As Barker weaves the story around an early meeting between these two as young children on August 8th and then almost yearly thereafter, you get the story of each of their lives throughout childhood and into adulthood.
This is a fantastical story that is also a romance and thriller and suspense in one. There is something for almost every reader and it is brilliant and intriguing throughout.
I highly recommend this. It is entertaining throughout and keeps you guessing.
Thank you for the early copy #Netgalley #HamptonCreekPress #SheHasABrokenThingWhereHerHeartShouldBe

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Review: Unfollow Me

Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: My Dark Vanessa

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Intriguing story with a surprising turn

Very well written, timeless story that is fascinating to read and with a sort of writing that draws you into one story and then is turned on it’s head.
Loved it!

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Review: A Good Neighborhood

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book!! Wow. This will most certainly end up in my Top 10 for the year!
This is a heart-wrenching story about two families who are backdoor neighbors in a wonderful neighborhood. One of the families is a black, woman professor at the local college who is an ecologist and loves to maintain her yard due to her love for plants and trees and the wildlife they attract. Her son, who is biracial, is a brilliant young man who is a senior in high school and talented classical guitarist. He is leaving within weeks to go to university for a degree in music. Then the new, white neighbors move in and there is the possibility of befriending these neighbors, who happen to have a teenage daughter who is slightly younger, but also academically gifted herself.
The story is like a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with the possible teenage love story but also with two families who each carry their own baggage.
The voice throughout the story is unique, in that it is told as though there is a narrator taking the reader through the events as a reporter would take the public through a news story. This was an interesting method for telling the overall story and then the back story of each character.
I highly recommend this book if you enjoy controversy and family sagas. The writing is superb and both the plot and character details were engaging throughout.
Loved it!
#AGoodNeighborhood #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #ThereseAnneFowler

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Review: Please See Us

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A slow burn, mystery/thriller with a unique dual perspective. Really entertaining and well written. This book took me a little longer to become invested as compared with my usual taste in this genre, but overall I really liked it.
Definitely would recommend.
#Netgalley #PleaseSeeUs #GalleryPocketBooks

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Review: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting tale of the number of children that go missing in India and the people who live around them. I found the writing to be terrific and did a great job of capturing the atmosphere of the markets in an Indian community. There is a large discrepancy between those that have money and those that do not. The writer did a good job in giving a description of the community and sense of how they react, or not, to the epidemic of missing children. Well done book, recommended.
#NetGalley #DjinnPatrolonthePurpleLine #RandomHouse

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Review: Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life

Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life by Anne Bogel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Anne Bogel is masterful in her ability to persuade. Whether it is in calling out all of us who overthink everything, sometimes to the point of decision paralysis or in her podcast trying to entice people to read something that they hadn't ever considered. This book brilliantly does this through insightful messages and ideas.
Great book for anyone looking for a shot of positivity and insight.
Thank you for the eARC. I've already bought the final book.
#Netgalley #Don'tOverthinkIt #BakerBooks #AnneBogel

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Review: Saint X

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an amazing story. The characters are so rich and full. This centers around a wealthy, American family who are on a trip to a small, Caribbean island for a relaxing winter break vacation. The children are 18-year-old Alison who attends an Ivy League school and her younger sister, Claire. The eldest daughter goes missing on the morning that the family is supposed to be traveling home. her story becomes the centerpiece of the family's lifelong story. How they react or process the events on that island.
"With the truth we will do what, become what? And in gaining the truth, what do we lose?...That in the end, you just have to decide. To live. To continue."
This is an intricate and highly interwoven story of love, loss and resilience.
Highly recommend.
#Netgalley #SaintX #CeladonBooks

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Review: Follow Me

Follow Me by Kathleen Barber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This thriller is one of those that I thought that I would not like because it is a "stalker" themed book. Usually this genre makes my DNF pile or run and do not touch pile. However, this was an entertaining and well done story. It is based on the protagonist, Audrey, who is a social media influencer with one million followers on her Instagram account. She initially lives in NYC but takes a job in DC to be the social media director for a gallery. It seems like the perfect timing and the perfect fit of a job for her. She creates a social media marketing plan for the gallery previewing the latest exhibit following a woman who had a stalker and then was brutally murdered in the DC area. Audrey is a naive and carefree sort of character who rents her apartment prior to the move, sight unseen. She is also not afraid to overshare her life through social media and one thing leads to another.
The premise of this story was a bit different from the recent stalker type books and shows, such as You, which also follows the life of a young woman whose life is easily followed by a stalker. There were many characters who seemed suspicious throughout this story and kept the pacing of the novel going. The conclusion was intriguing and well done overall.
This is a recommended read for thriller lovers, especially if You was a favorite. I liked the story in this one better than You, where the gory details were too much of the novel. That is not the case here. This is more about the build-up.
#Netgalley #GalleryBooks #FollowMe

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